The Hellmouth and the Damned

This 15th-century woodcut depicts a terrifying infernal scene. In the center, a large, anthropomorphic monster head (the Hellmouth) has a gaping, fire-filled mouth from which a small demon emerges to pull at a human figure. Above the Hellmouth, a demonic figure plays a long brass instrument, while a human in a cap looks on, holding a vessel. To the right, souls with pained expressions emerge from a steaming cauldron, and two more heads peer out from a barred, window-like opening, all suggesting eternal suffering in hell.

This image reflects the 15th-century preoccupation with the physical topography of the afterlife, drawing on the 'Ars Moriendi' tradition and popular medieval views of divine judgment and the infernal state. Such imagery was commonly used in theological tracts and broadsides to illustrate the consequences of sin.